Over the coming months, we’re exploring the commercial behaviours that win and grow work amongst technical experts. Last month, we focused on listening, because the professionals who ask better questions, and genuinely listen to the answers, are often the ones who shape opportunities before anyone else realises they exist.
This month, we move to the next stage…structure.
So at this point, you’re in the room, you’ve made an impact and you’ve demonstrated you’ve listened effectively, the next challenge is turning that understanding into a conversation that creates clarity, direction, momentum and hopefully opportunity.
For many technically strong professionals, this is not something that happens consciously. In fact, one of the most common observations we make when working with lawyers, engineers and environmental consultants, to name but a few, is that many of the most commercially important conversations are not viewed as business development conversations at all.
They are framed as project updates, technical discussions, progress meetings, coffee catch-ups or simply ‘checking in’. As a result, very few people think deliberately about how those conversations are structured or what a good outcome might look like.
And yet, commercially, these moments matter enormously. They shape trust. They uncover opportunity. They influence whether a client sees you as a capable technical specialist or a trusted adviser who understands the bigger picture. Without structure, even good conversations can quietly drift, and opportunities can be missed.
Most professionals will recognise the feeling. You leave a meeting thinking, that went well. The conversation was positive, professional and informative. The client seemed engaged. However, when you reflect on it later, very little actually moved forward. No deeper understanding was gained, no broader opportunity surfaced, and no clear next step emerged.
Often, this happens because conversations become too reactive. We respond to the immediate issue in front of us, answer the question being asked and move quickly into technical problem-solving. From a delivery perspective, this feels productive. From a commercial perspective, it can be limiting.
The professionals who consistently convert conversations into opportunities tend to approach meetings differently. Importantly, they are rarely rigid or overly rehearsed. The conversation still feels natural, but underneath there is usually a degree of intentional structure and preparation.
Opening
The strongest business development conversations begin well. Rather than immediately focusing on capability or solutions, seasoned professionals use the opening to establish context, rapport and direction.
Firstly, they take time to understand context before moving too quickly into solutions. Rather than immediately focusing on the presenting issue, they take a step back and explore what is happening more broadly in the client’s world.
What has prompted this discussion? Why now? What pressures are sitting behind the issue? Who else is involved in the decision-making process?
This matters because presenting problems are often symptoms rather than root causes. A shareholder dispute may actually be driven by succession concerns. A technical design challenge may be connected to programme pressure or stakeholder expectations. A regulatory issue may carry wider reputational or operational implications.
The strongest professionals understand that context almost always changes the quality of the advice or support they ultimately provide.
Investigating
Secondly, they explore beyond the immediate brief. This does not mean forcing wider conversations or attempting to manufacture opportunities where they do not naturally exist. Rather, it means remaining curious enough to understand the broader environment in which the client is operating.
At this stage, the role is less about advising and more about understanding. What else is happening around this issue? Are there competing priorities, wider risks or stakeholder pressures that may influence the situation?
This is often where trusted adviser relationships begin to develop, because the conversation shifts from ‘helping me solve this problem’ to ‘helping me navigate my wider situation’.
Inspiring
The third characteristic is that they create momentum. Good ‘business development’ conversations do not necessarily end with a proposal, a pitch or an immediate opportunity. However, they should usually end with greater clarity than when they began.
This is where the most effective professionals begin to inspire confidence. Not through polished sales techniques or rehearsed pitches, but by helping the client feel clearer, more reassured and more confident in the path ahead.
Clients gain confidence (in you) when conversations feel thoughtful, commercially aware and well led. Structure reassures them of this. It signals that you are considering the wider picture rather than simply responding to a narrow issue. Importantly, it also makes life easier for the client by helping them make sense of complexity.
Next steps
Too often, meetings finish with vague intentions to ‘keep in touch’ or ‘catch up again soon’. Whilst well intentioned, this can leave momentum to chance.
Seasoned professionals tend to leave conversations with some form of agreed direction. That may simply be sharing a relevant insight, introducing a colleague, arranging a follow-up discussion or exploring an adjacent issue in more detail.
The key is that the conversation moves somewhere.
At an individual level, it can be helpful to reflect on your own approach. Do your meetings have a deliberate structure? Are you moving too quickly to solutions? And importantly, are conversations ending with momentum, or simply good intentions?
Next month, we’ll explore one of the more misunderstood commercial skills in professional services: cross-selling…a phrase we know often causes a level of frustration amongst professionals. Or perhaps more accurately, how to identify opportunities to help clients more, without it feeling like ‘selling’.
I hope you’ve found this month’s 5 Minute Advantage insightful, practical and something that will help you in your day-to-day interactions with clients.
Until next time,
Gary
We are a business development consultancy which is passionate about helping our clients develop processes, skills and behaviours that will result in increased sales and improved margins. 
